Armenia to expand relations with Russia, EU, U.S., China - opposition leader
YEREVAN. April 29 (Interfax) - Protest movement leader and head of the opposition parliamentary faction Elk Nikol Pashinyan said that he had been satisfied with a meeting with the State Duma delegation, noting that Yerevan will be enhancing relations with Russia, the European Union and the United States.
"The meeting with the Russian State Duma delegation was very efficient. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, and we parted as friends. We noted that this process not only facilitates Armenian-Russian friendship, but also relations between Armenia and Russia will genuinely boost and expand in the near future," Pashinyan said at a rally on Republican Square in Yerevan on Sunday.
Armenia and Russia "will benefit from this process," he said.
"It is an extremely important result," Pashinyan said.
"We will also step up our relations in all the directions, and will expand relations with the EU, the U.S., China, Iran and Georgia. There is every prerequisite for this," he said.
Deputies of the opposition faction Elk held a meeting with visiting Russian deputies in the Armenian parliament on Sunday. Taking part in the meeting were Pashinyan, Armenian parliamentarians Sasun Mikaelyan and Ararat Mirzoyan, and the Russian delegation was led by head of the Duma Committee on the CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov, deputy Viktor Vodolatsky and head of the Duma CIS Affairs Committee secretariat Nikolai Krotov.